Metal container



April 20, 1965 E. VALYI I 3,179,284

METAL CONTAINER Original Filed Oct 10, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR BY ATTOR N EY April 20, 1965 E. l. VALYI METAL CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct lb, 1957 INVENTOR EMA-BY Z VA ATTOR N EY an air blast or fiuid pressure.

United States Patent Ofifice 3,1 W28 i- Patented Apr. 20, less 3,179,284 METAL CONTAINER Emery I. Valyi, New York, NY. ARD Corporation, 2t) S. Broadway, Yonkers, N.Y.)

Original application Oct. 10, 1957, Ser. No. 689,303, now Patent No. 3,028,827, dated Apr. 10, 1962. Divided and this application Apr. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 21,504

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-75) This invention relates to metal cans and containers of the type used for packaging and storage of food stuffs or other commodities and has for an object to provide novel and improved cans and containers.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 689,303 filed Gctober 10, 1957, now Patent No. 3,028,827, which is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 621,192, filed November 9, 1956, now abandoned.

An object is to provide a can having a seamless tubular body portion to which end closures may be readily secured capable of being made by a large scale commercial method.

Another object is to provide cans of the above type produced by a method in which the steps of bending a fiat blank into cylindrical form and sealing the contacting edges are eliminated.

Other objects will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

In accordance with the invention, metal strip or plate is produced having alternating parallel regions of fiat juxtaposed layers and integral metal. Such strip or plate may be produced somewhat along the lines set forth in my US. Patent No. 2,375,334, dated May 8, 1945. Thus, an ingot or slab of metal is formed having therethrough one or more continuous relatively small openings. The surface of these openings is treated or these openings are formed by or filled with a material that by its nature prevents the openings from welding if their juxtaposed surfaces are brought into close contact under considerable pressure. For example aluminum oxide formed in situ by chemical treatment of the inside surface of the openings, or talc may be used as the weld-preventing material with an aluminum ingot or slab;- finely divided silica or graphite may be used with a copper or copper alloy ingot or slab; and finely divided silica or mica, or boron nitride may be used with a steel ingot or slab. Alternately such a strip ornplate may be formed with thin openings, by applying, such as by spraying, painting or printing, a thin layer of the weld-preventing materials previously cited as examples, to one surface of asheet,

by superimposing another like sheet over the first one;

performed hot in the initial stages of rolling and cold during the stages of rolling that finish the sheet to the thickness required for the manufacture of cans.

The strip or coil so produced may then be subdivided and ultimately cut into pieces or blanks adapted to produce a single can body. These can bodies may be formed by separating the laminations of the blank or strip either mechanically with the aid of a mandrel, or. by means of The methodsof mechanical separation, pneumatic inflation and 'llllid expansion may be used singly, combined, or applied in sequence, to form the cylindrical body portion required for the finished can.

The portions of the blank on opposite sides of the laminated area form fins along diametrically opposite portions of the can body which may be cut to form narrow ribs and folded flat, crushed against or otherwise conformed to the outer surface of the can body by working them in a transverse direction. Ends, mostly in the form of substantially fiat closures are then applied to the open ends of the cylindrical body portions and mechanically folded, crimped, seamed or otherwise secured in the usual manner to produce cans or containers of the desired configuration.

Thus, a can or container is produced characterized by a body of seamless construction in place of the present product which usually has a soldered, cemented or welded seam. The ribs have metallurgical characteristics substantially identical with those of the other portions of the body, such characteristics being that of a metal rolled essentially in one direction from a block of substantially greater thickness, and after being conformed generally to the outer surface of the can body as above described, they form narrow areas with the additional metallurgical characteristics of metal cold worked in the transverse direction and eliminate any line of weakness that might otherwise be present in the walls.

The article and the steps in forming it will be better understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which a specific embodiment has been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a broken perspective view of a coiled strip formed by rolling an ingot containing weld-preventing inserts, showing severance lines for forming can blanks or strips;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view on a larger scale of an individual can blank cut from the coiled strip of FIG. 1

and indicating shear lines along which the corners may be cut for the purpose to be described;

FIG. 3 is a broken perspective view showing the step of forcing the blank over a mandrel for opening the same;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3; I

FIG. 5 is a broken perspective view showing a final stage in opening the blank on the-mandrel to form-the can body;

FIG. 6 is a partial section taken on the line 66 of FIG. 5 illustrating the step of conforming the fin to the can;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the can body with an end closure in place prior to crimping;

FIG 8 is a similar perspective view of the completed can showing one end closure secured by crimping and the other end in juxtaposed position prior to closing the can;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged section taken on the line 9-9 V upon the amount of elongation produced by the rolling operation and is shown as formed into acoil 19 for conveniencez It is to'be understoodthat the coiled sheet may be shipped if desired in this form to aremote point wherein the succeedingstages of the can-forming operation may take place or the can may be completed prior to such shipping. 7

The strip may first be severed as by cutting, shearing or breaking along severance lines to form individual strips which may then be separated into single can blanks 28 either before or after opening, or the strip 20 may be severed transversely along severance lines 27 into strips of multiple can Width which are then severed along severance lines 25 into'single can blanks 28, or the transverse and longitudinal severance may take place simultaneously to produce the single can blank 28 of FIG. 2.

The corners of the blank 28 (FIG. 2) may be cut if desired along lines 2? for the purpose to be described, although such removal of the corners may be omitted when this step is found to be unnecessary.

The strip or blank 28 may now be opened by mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic means to expand the slit 23 and form the walls Hand 22 into the shape of a can body. One method of so opening the strip or blank is illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 6.

One end of the slit is first opened very slightly such as for example by means of an airjet directed toward the slit to separate the leading edges or" the walls 21 and 22. The strip or blank with the slightly separated walls may then be guided over a mandrel 31 as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 by suitable feed means, such as rollers (not shown) to cause the walls to be progressively opened into substantially cylindrical form, or to such other form as maybe required for the can body.

Opposite sides of the can body may be pushed inwardly to facilitate the forming of the walls 21 and 22 into the desiredshape. If the sides are so pushed against the mandrel the intervening portions of the walls 21 and 22 may be extended away from the surface of the mandrel so that it is not necessary that the mandrel have the full final form which the can body is to assume.

The areas of the sheet beyond the flattened slit .23 produce longitudinal fins 32 which extend along the side Walls of the cylindrical body. Before or during the expanding operation these fins may be cut close to the can body as indicated by dotted line 34 in FIGS. 3 and 4 to form narrow ribs 35. In the final form such as indicated in FIGS. 5 and 6 the ribs 35 may be folded over or crushed against the side walls of the can as by pairs of rollers 36, effecting a transverse cold working of ribs 35.

It is to be understood that the strip 20 may be opened by the steps indicated in FIGS. 3 to 6 to form a long tube which may then be separated into individual can lengths, or the blanks 28 of the FIG. 2 may be opened individually after severance to form can bodies. 7

Also the walls may be separated to a limited extent .prior to severance into individual can blanks and the opening of the walls completed after severance.

It is to be understood of course that these methods of opening the blank are purely illustrative and that the walls may be formed by any convenient means into the shape required for the ultimate can; j

The ends of the cylindrical body 40 formed as above described are now bent to form peripheral end flanges 41 and 42 as illustrated in FIG. 7 and a can end or bottom 44 in the form of a metal disk is placed against the end flange 41 and folded over or crimped as indicated in FIGS. 8 and 9 in accordance with the usual practice of forming a closed end can. The top 45 may be secured in a similar manner after the can has been filled.

The corners of the blank may be removed as indicated by lines 29 of FIG. 2 to a depth to intersect the slit 23 so as to form notches 47 in the end flanges 41 and 42. These notches are adapted when the flanges are crimped over as indicated in FIG. 9 to eliminate the extra thickness of the metal which would otherwise be present at that point due to the ribs 35. Such notching of the blank may be omitted if the thickness of the metal is such that the presence of the ribs 35 at the point of crimping is not objectionable.

In the event that the rolled strip of FIG. 1 is shipped to the point of packaging, the can-forming steps illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 9 may take place at the packaging point thereby reducing the shipping space which would otherwise be required for shipping the formed cans.

FIG. 10 illustrates a two-compartment can. To produce this embodiment an ingot is provided with pairs of weld-preventing inserts which are in spaced juxtaposed relationship and which have a metal Wall therebetween. When this slab is rolled to form a sheet and then opened into the form of the can body shown in FIG. 10, the intermediate mctal wall forms a diaphragm 53 (FIG. 10) which acts as a partition to divide the can body longitudinally into two separate compartments. Ends may be applied to this can body in any suitable manner.

What is claimed is:

A metal can comprising a body having peripheral walls and side ribs extending on opposite sides, said ribs being solid incross section and having a peripheral thickness of at least double the thickness of said peripheral walls, the entire can body including said walls and ribs being integral and seamless, said walls having the metallurgical characteristics of rolled metal, said ribs having the metallurgical characteristics of metal which has been rolled longitudinally and cold worked by crushing in a transverse direction, said body having a peripheral flange at one end, and an end closure member secured to said flange.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 4,794 of1893 Great Britain.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

EARLE J. DRUMMOND', FRANKLIN T. GARRETT,

Examiners. 

